aristoph

Passing through the First wing this morning the full body scanner failed twice to detect my form at all triggering what they called “a double yellow”.This involved a manager being called and me being taken into a private room for a full body search by hand.

According to the initial security agent this was a fault in the machine, but the manager insisted that this was a random selection for full search. If this was true then they weren’t very well set up for it as the manager had to be called to perform the search and there was no log book in the private room for recording it (he was calling someone else to bring a new one).

Apart from the delay it caused and the inconsistent explanation of why I had been selected for this, two things surprised me.

First, they wanted me just to leave my luggage on the conveyor belt. I pointed out that this would
just cause a massive backlog for everyone else (I had 3 trays) so they moved it to the public repacking area. I refused to leave it unattended while I was searched - which they seemed to think was perfectly fine - but eventually a spare security agent said she would keep an eye on it.

On the rare occasions I have been stopped for
enhanced security elsewhere the first thing they have done is ask me to identify my hand luggage - which makes a lot of sense to me. Here they seemed to think I was being unreasonable not wanting to leave all my belongings, including documents, unsupervised: “there are cameras everywhere here” said the manager!

Secondly the search itself was remarkably standard issue. Just a lot more patting down but he didn’t even ask me to remove my shoes. It seemed no more personal than what they were doing in the public area to anyone who triggers the machine with an alert. I asked how this was in
any way different from standard security and they were both at a loss lol.

CCayley

Same thing happened to me in the First Wing yesterday and they used the same double yellow terminology. They called a manager but it was apparent that person wouldn’t turn up anytime soon so they patted and swabbed everything they could think of and let me go.

aristoph

interesting. So I suspect the first guy was right, there is an issue with the machine. He seemed pretty p&&&ed off when he called saying “yeah, we’ve got another double yellow” - it certainly didn’t sound like standard procedure.

corporate-wage-slave

The bit about leaving your bags unattended is definitely incorrect, you are responsible for your bags in LHR, see Heathrow 2014 Bylaws 3.9. And an agent suggesting you breach the bylaws is in turn in breach of their conditions of employment.

Double yellow is required to be fully investigated though, the requirement is that HAL security is certain that you are safe for passage, and it is ultimately in everyone's best interest. Doesn't excuse incompetent handling though.

Jpm81

Happened to me a couple of months ago.

Same thing - machine can't detect you twice, need a private search in a room/booth at the end of the security belt on the right hand side - however they let me take all my stuff in with me for it.

Ended up being about 10 mins all in as they had to call a manager to come as part of it. Was no big deal and they were perfectly pleasant through it all.

aristoph

I was told not to go near my luggage and they would have left it except I refused to go
to the room until I knew it was safe guarded.

SW7London

Examples like this - involving not one employee but at least two, including a manager! - make me think Heathrow isn't really there to facilitate air travel, but an expensive government jobs scheme to employ people who would otherwise be completely incapable of securing and maintaining a job elsewhere.

corporate-wage-slave

Except HAL is a private company and the staff concerned have no employment link to the government.

corporate-wage-slave

Did you notice whether the lights were a bit dim? Loading shedding can cause the scanners to misfunction if it goes out of tolerance on watts or cycles, and load shedding increases the risk of this.

aristoph

I didn’t but my goodness have we reached South African levels of infrastructure in the UK
now? Lol People before and after me came through just fine though.

ThatT1Feeling

Yep I had this about 6 months ago. By the time I’d been though the machine twice, my baggage was through the scanner and they had no issue with me re-packing it all and taking it into the room with me. An unusual situation for me but not unpleasant in any way.

aristoph

I agree apart from a) I was kept away from my luggage and had to kick up a fuss to have it looked after and b) I really didn’t see how the private search was any different from the pat down outside. If anything it was less stringent as I wasn’t asked to remove my shoes.

stevebintley

The fact you knew this is remarkable, but I’ve just had a read of the document. It’s a very general clause, but everyone seems to leave bags unattended in the lounge. If someone really wanted, what would be the consequences of breaching this bylaw?

aristoph

You could get a job in the First Pier security team?

cameramaker

Scanners on Friday were rejecting most people and making them go through the secondary hands up machine. Haven’t even bothered with FW security twice in the last week as the queue was beyond the boarding pass scanners and Fast Track South was much shorter.

LHR security is getting like MAN. Woefully inefficient, hostile attitude, work to rule approach, increased secondary scans and their make it up as they go along attitude.